Kevin Harvick holds off Greg Biffle to win the Sprint Unlimited

The race was extremely competitive but took its measure of competitors early in the 75-lap non-points race at Daytona International Speedway.

GODWIN KELLYMOTORSPORTS EDITOR

DAYTONA BEACH -- Kevin Harvick may be a lame-duck driver but both his wings were working at full strength Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

Harvick, who will leave the No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014, won the Sprint Unlimited At Daytona, leading the most laps and staving off two challenges on the last lap.

“It was a great day for our Chevy,” said Harvick, who stalled his car during the victory lap. “I'm glad to get Speedweeks started off the right way.”

Harvick beat second-place Greg Biffle, driving the No. 16 Ford, by .149 seconds. Joey Logano, making his debut in the No. 22 Ford, was third. Biffle was attacking at the top of the track, while Logano made a run on the bottom. Both were blocked by Harvick.

“I could see those guys,” Harvick said. “I knew from (my position at the) top there, I could guard the bottom.”

An estimated 60,000 race-starved spectators braved bitter cold conditions to watch the race. It was 50 degrees when the 75-lap race started and dropped from there, with the wind howling at times.

“I'm proud of all the efforts at RCR,” Childress said. “This is the start of a long, long 10 days here. Looking forward to the end of the week.”

It was Harvick's third win in this event, formerly the Budweiser Shootout, and Childress Racing's record eighth win.

Harvick averaged 177.538 mph and was one of five drivers who swapped the lead nine times in the 75-lap run, which was broken into 30, 25 and 20 lap segments. Harvick led three times for 40 laps, including the final 13 over the 2.5-mile tri-oval.

“You got to be patient driving these cars,” Harvick said.

There were only 12 stock cars running at the finish after a Segment 1 melee in Turn 2 knocked six cars out of competition.

Tony Stewart, who led the first segment, and Marcos Ambrose touched and continued, but it caused a ripple effect through the 19-car field.

Nine cars were involved. Some of those taken out by the fray included Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch.

Another brand-name driver, who had a short night, was veteran Mark Martin, driving the No. 55 Toyota.

“I saw a car sideways, then the cars higher on the racetrack tangled for some reason,” Martin said. “I got squeezed. We didn't get very far along there.”

It was that crash that helped Biffle decide not to force the issue when trying to pass Harvick on the last lap. Biffle said he could have made a run off Turn 2 but thought better of the move.

“I looked, but I thought it would be sparks and parts flying,” Biffle said. “We learned a little bit. We got a ways to go on our 500 car.”

Race fans had a lot input into how the Sprint Unlimited would be raced. The fans voted for the race to be broken into segments of 30, 25 and 20 laps.

The fans voted for a four-tire pit stop and they voted not to eliminate cars from the last segment.

Terry Labonte turned 13 laps then retired in the No. 32 Ford.

This race marked the competitive debut of NASCAR's highly touted Generation-6 stock cars, which replaced the “Car of Tomorrow” cookie-cutter design. The “Gen-6” cars have a much stronger resemblance to their street-model namesakes.

Carl Edwards won the pole position and Martin the outside pole based on a fan vote. Unfortunately, both drivers were involved in a multicar crash during Friday's practice and went to backup machines.